PUNE: Oil companies have asked LPG connection holders to seed their Aadhaar card numbers to their respective bank accounts, failing which they stand to lose the subsidy amount.

To accelerate the process of enrolling LPG customers under Aadhaar, authorities have also planned to give Aadhaar card machines to oil companies. Accordingly, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) will get 5 machines and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) will get 10.

A BPCL official said that LPG customers who have Aadhaar cards will now have to approach banks and get their Aadhaar card number seeded to their bank accounts so that subsidy on LPG cylinders can be refunded to their accounts. “The district administration has proposed additional Aadhaar enrollment centers exclusively for LPG customers. The Aadhaar machines given to BPCL distributors will only enroll customers in whose names the connections are and not their family members,” he said.

The official said that no deadline has been set for connecting Aadhaar numbers to bank accounts in Pune, but customers have been asked to do so at the earliest as other cities have already got a deadline to complete the process. “About 60% Aadhaar enrollment has been done in Pune. It has to reach 80% or more after which a deadline for seeding of Aadhaar numbers to bank accounts will be announced for Pune,” he said. Those who already have the Aadhaar card will have to get the numbers linked with their bank accounts. Approximately, 80,000 BPCL customers, out of a total of 12.4 lakh in the district, have linked their Aadhaar numbers to bank accounts.

An HPCL official said that though the oil companies have received no communication regarding deadline for seeding, it may soon be announced. “Customers will have to submit a photostated copy of their Aadhaar card, other details and DGCC booklet to respective distributors and will also have to give the Adhaar number to their banks,” he said.

During a recent meeting that oil companies had with the district administration, it was decided to give 10 Aadhaar card machines to select HPCL distributors. He added that of the 9.9 lakh customers that HPCL has in Pune district, 1.5 lakh customers have already seeded their Aadhaar card number with their bank accounts.

The Direct Cash Transfer (DCT) scheme aims to directly put the subsidy into consumers’ bank accounts. Once implemented, customers will have to purchase non-subsidized LPG cylinders at a uniform rate (currently Rs 950 per cylinder) while the subsidy component will be transferred to their bank account annually.

Let this government be voted out for imposing the bank account/aadhar and related problems with bank accounts upon the people, just like the previous government was voted out. Let them never come to power again.

Let the price of cooking gas in India be reduced to the price according to the international price of oil and natural gas, which is below the present subsidy levels, let the government do this immediately else let it be removed. Let the bank account and aadhar card be discarded completely, as there is no subsidy component from the government based on international prices of oil and natural gas. Let this government which does not provide any subsidy according to international prices of oil and natural gas stop harrassing the people. Let any government that continues ant-people like this activity be removed. Let the LPG subsidy not haunt consumers anymore, as there is no more subsidy according to the international price of oil and natural gas.